Lee in Hall of Tame 

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ADDRESS 

Delivered by 

Jasper T. Darling 

»i 

Memorial Hall, Chicago, January 1, 1910 


11 The moving finger writes, and, having writ, 
Moves on; nor all their piety nor wit, 

Shall lure it back to cancel half a line, 

Nor all their tears wash out a word of it. n 


















ADDRESS 

Delivered by Jasper T. Dareing 
Memoriae Haee, Chicago, III., Jan. 1, 1910 


Second Edition 


To the Department Commanders of the Grand Army of the 

Republic, Greeting: 

The first edition (5,000 copies) of this address, having been quickly 
exhausted, it has been decided to publish a second edition of 50,000 copies 
for more extensive distribution. 

In accordance therewith, I take the liberty of forwarding to the 
Commander of each Department of the Grand Army of the Republic a 
sufficient number of copies to reach every Post in their respective Depart¬ 
ments; and I also forward, in same bundle, enough copies to serve each 
Relief Corps, Circle of Ladies of the G. A. R., Camps of Sons of 
Veterans, and Tents of Daughters of Veterans, in each Department. 

I most respectfully suggest that each general office in the various 
departments of the Grand Army send out to every Post at least one copy, 
and as many more as an equitable distribution will admit; and also notify 
the head of each of the four other bodies above named that they may call 
for their donation, this being upon the understanding that they will 
distribute the booklets throughout the Department to each of their respec 
live bodies; it being my wish and the wish of my Advisory Committee, that 
this address be read before each Grand Army Post, Relief Corps, 
Circle and Tent in every Department of our Republic, and that it may 
be read by every Comrade and others who may be unable to attend their 
respective meetings. 

In Fraternity, Charity and Loyalty, 

It is my pleasure to subscribe myself, 

Philip C. Hayes, 

Commander of the Dept, of Illinois Grand Army of the Republic 
(Late Brevet Brig. General U. S. Vols.) 

Special orders for these books will be filled upon application at the 
rate of $1.00 per hundred, or $8.00 per thousand copies. 

Address the Author, 

79 Dearborn St., Chicago. 





Past Commander Columbia Post, No. 706, Department of Illinois 
Grand Army of the Republic 

To my Comrades throughout the Nation 
To the Woman’s Relief Corps 
To the Ladies of the Grand Army 
To the Sons of Veterans 
To the Daughters of Veterans 
To all Associate Bodies 

To all who love Patriotism and appreciate its worth 
1 dedicate this address 


Cordially and Fraternally, 




CAMP FIRE, JAN. 1, 1910. 


Memorial Hall, on New Year’s Day, 1910, presented a deeply impressive 
appearance. Fully six hundred Comrades of the Grand Army, representing 
each of the thirty-seven Posts of Cook County, were assembled for lunch, 
and then to listen to the delegated speakers of the day. 

General Joseph B. Deake, who presided, opened the exercises with a 
forceful address. 

General Philip C. Hayes, Department Commander of Illinois, spoke 
with vigor and power. 

General Grant spoke. 

Hon. William Busse, President of the Board of County Commissioners, 
then addressed the veterans. He was followed by Hon. Henry D. Fulton, 
Past Commander of General Meade Post. 

Hon. Martin B. Madden, Congressman, followed, and he aroused great 
enthusiasm by his patriotic words. 

The following Comrades of the Grand Army then addressed the assembly: 

Col. Charles Smith, Pres, of the Commander’s Association of Cook Co. 

Col. Thomas H. Gault, Hon. John F. Scanlan, and others. 

Comrade Col. Jasper T. Darling, whose address is printed in full, was 
the next speaker. 


Gill 

Author 

'**•*») 

»0V 26 ISift 



ADDRESS 

Honorable Chairman , General Leake , and Venerable Comrades of 
Illinois: 

Upon questions of public welfare the soldiers of the sixties 
assume no especial right of proprietorship; and yet, so long as 
their strength and reason remain, and they see false teachings 
held up to influence and mislead the rising generations of this 
Republic, just so long will they continue to raise their voices in 
solemn protest against all such teachings, and against every 
infringement upon the sacred principles which they struggled to 
save. 

With astonishment,—yea, with consternation,—we learn that 
a statue of General Robert E. Lee has been placed in Statuary 
Hall, at Washington. 

This being true, we now demand: 

What perjured key has unlocked the door of Freedom’s 
sanctuary, allowing to be placed therein a statue mantled in the 
uniform of High Treason? 

By what right have they erected within those Fanes we fought 
to save, the statue of one who deserted the flag which had edu¬ 
cated him and protected him even unto a place of high renown ? 

Robert E. Lee, then a Colonel in the United States Army, 
sent his resignation to General Scott, but before the first nightfall, 
and before his withdrawal from his command was received by the 
government, he had proceeded to Richmond, that he might lead 
his native state into secession; and then, drawing his sword he 
thrust it, with all his mighty power, into the very heart of the 
republic which he hoped and prayed would totter to its fall. 

Seven States had gone out. 

Would Virginia go? If not, then rebellion must die before 
the maturity of its birth. 

History says, “they looked toward Lee.” 

“He hastened to their embrace.” 

“They received him with open arms.” 

Virginia seceded. 

Lee grasped the flag of treason; he mounted the chariot, and 
he rode at the head of the southern hosts. 


3 


His pathway was marked by vast assemblages of human 
bones. 

Southern orators and writers have persistently asserted that 
Lee felt compelled to “follow his State out of the Union.” 

All such statements are a deliberate perversion of the truth. 

He deserted his country, and he conspired with other con¬ 
spirators to force that commonwealth out of the Union. 

Let us consult the record. 

April 12 Sumter was fired upon. 

April 15 , Mr. Lincoln called for seventy-five thousand troops. 

April 17 , the Virginia Convention, then assembled at Rich¬ 
mond, by resorting to “threats of hanging Union members/’ suc¬ 
ceeded in passing an ordinance of secession, which, however, 
was not to be, and could not be put into force until ratified by a 
majority vote of the entire State. 

The date for casting such vote was then fixed for the 23 rd 
day of the following month. 

On the 18 th of April Col. Lee informed Gen. Scott that he 
was “contemplating a withdrawal from the army, that he might 
retire to private life.” 

Two days later—April 20 ,—he sent his resignation to Gen. 
Scott, and then hastened to Richmond, which place he reached 
the same day. 

Llis resignation was not received by the War Department 
until April 25 , when it was acted upon and accepted. 

Not waiting for this acceptance, Col. Lee, on April 22 , 
became Major General and Commander-in-Chief of all Virginia 
forces. 

History says, “at once he stepped from the rank of Colonel in 
the regular army to the rank of General in the Confederate 
army.” 

Immediately he threw his entire influence to make complete 
the secession of Virginia, which was accomplished fully a month 
later. 

History also says, “during the first year of the Rebellion 
Gen. Lee was the chief military adviser of Jefferson Davis 
and of the Confederate War Secretary.” 

Thus he was placed in control of all forces—Virginian and 
others—that soon began assembling to threaten the city of 
Washington. 

The vast Union sentiment in that great Commonwealth was 
thus awed into silence, and the State went out of the Union. 

Western Virginia, however, remained faithful and formed a 
new State. 


4 


When Robert E. Lee said to Gen. Scott that he was about to 
“resign and retire to private life,” there was deception in his 
heart and a falsehood upon his lips. 

He deceived his chief. Why did he deceive ? Because he had 
entered into a covenant with treason. 

He knew the truth, but he was resolved to reject it. And why 
reject? Because his loyalty was weakened—it was in default. 

When the supreme hour was at hand he hesitated. Why did 
he hesitate? Because his mind was wavering before God. 

He saw a Rubicon—its color was red. 

Treason said “come.” 

Loyalty said “remain.” 

He saluted treason. 

“ The Penalty of Treason is Death.” 

When Robert Edward Lee threw down his commission at the 
feet of the Government; when he turned away from the flag 
which had fostered him from his youth to the maturity of his 
power; when he refused longer to respect the oath which he 
had taken “upon his sacred honor to defend the Union,” decid¬ 
ing, as he did, to receive a higher commission at the hands of a 
Confederacy, then going into rebellion against the Government, 
just that moment he became the Benedict Arnold of his day and 
generation, and no lips of sophistry, I care not how eloquent, can 
convince an intelligent world to the contrary. 

The perfidy and the cunning of Col. Lee stamped him as equal 
to any, and superior to most of the Great Conspirators. 

As the war clouds began gathering, he asked to be transferred 
from Texas to Washington. 

Pie well understood that the conflict was almost at hand. 

He resolved to place himself close to the central point of 
action. 

He was received into the councils of Gen. Scott and Mr. 
Lincoln himself. 

With all the power of his gifted soul the aged General urged 
upon Colonel Lee the acceptance of the Commandership of the 
Union army. 

And Mr. Lincoln acquiesced, offering him the highest honors 
at his command. 

He trusted him even to the .extent of placing before him the 
general plans for stamping out the rebellion. 

Col. Lee received all this information with every appearance 
of loyalty to the Union, and fidelity to the Stars and Stripes. 

But when the auspicious time arrived, he sent his resigna¬ 
tion by a messenger, and hastened to Richmond, there to receive 
honors and promotion which he knew were awaiting him. 


5 


Was treason ever more treacherous or perfidy more com¬ 
plete ? 

History is strangely lacking in a more striking example. 

And they would enshrine him in the Hall of Fame—a 
pedestal of glory builded high upon the grandeur of this Republic 
which he would have swept away. 

And was there dearth of famous memories in that grand old 
commonwealth, when she was casting about for a distinguished 
son to place beside him whom the Ages love to call The Father 
of His Country? 

Does this proud Mother of Presidents no longer recollect 
Thomas Jefferson, the genius of whose brain gave to the almost 
despairing Colonies the Declaration of Independence, inspir¬ 
ing into life the noblest Nation in all the world? 

And could she no longer behold" James Madison, whose pen 
wrote words of wisdom into the Constitution of these United 
States ? 

And why turn away from that transcendent genius, whose 
exposition of the law, based upon the Constitution, clearly defined 
the sovereign powers of a Federal government, and whose great 
mind builded, broad and deep and strong, the foundations of a 
National structure which neither sword nor pen can sweep away? 

How remarkable that Virginia has rejected this honor to 
America's mightiest Chief Justice—the expounder of the Consti¬ 
tution—John Marshall! 

And, lest Virginia has forgotten, let us remind her of another 
immortal son, the value of whose deeds has been proven by the 
ages, and by the triumphal maj*ch of human progress. 

The sagacity and the wisdom of James Monroe secured con¬ 
trol of the Mississippi and the vast territory to the west making 
this Republic the dominant power of the New World. 

But the crowning effort of his life was yet to come. 

Europe, jealous of this nation and its rapid development, 
planned to crush all the infant republics from our southern bor¬ 
der to Cape Horn. 

Her combined powers (England alone objecting), formed 
what was known as The Holy Alliance, and prepared to 
execute their nefarious work. 

James Monroe then promulgated and put into force what the 
Nations have learned to respect—“ The Monroe Doctrine.” 

This heroic deed caused the Alliance to hesitate, and it 
saved Mexico and the Central and South American Repub¬ 
lics to their own. 

This Doctrine has thus far preserved the entity of the 
western hemisphere. 


6 


It has stood the test of almost a century. 

Avarice and greed and envy have vanished before it. 

The armaments of nations have respected its power. 

It survived its greatest, and almost overwhelming enemy, 
the sword of Robert Kdward Tee. 

Had our Appomattox been our Waterloo, all the glories 
of The Monroe Doctrine would have faded away amid the 
chaos of this Republic and amid the disintegration of the 
Western World. 

All these and more! 

Strange to have withheld honors due to him who inspired the 
yeomanry of the south to go forth with the yeomanry of the 
north, shoulder to shoulder, writing on history’s page the name 
of Lexington, Concord, Valley Forge, Yorktown, and a hundred 
conflicts, and above them, wreathed amid the halos of immor¬ 
tality, the name of Washington ! 

Strange, I say, that The Old Dominion should neglect him, 
whose fearless words put life into flintlocks, whose message 
fired the soul of Patriots when a few colonies were struggling 
for life beneath the grinding heel of British tyranny! 

O, Virginia ! bright jewel in this diadem of unbroken States, 
why refuse this champion—Patrick Henry—whose words were 
borne onward amid the battle-flames to final triumph— “Give 
Me Liberty or Give Me Death !” 

Has thou not mistaken notoriety for Fame, when you select 
Robert K. Tee as your highest example. 

Thomas Jefferson jeopardized his life to build this Nation.. 

Lee drew his sword to destroy it. 

James Madison immortalized his name amid the glories of the 
Magna Charta. 

Tee hurled into its minutest flaw the corpses of almost a 
million slain. 

John Marshall’s name lights up, with glory, this Temple, pro¬ 
claiming Peace on Earth and Good Will to All Mankind. 

Lee would have tom down the Temple, and he would have 
destroyed the equilibrium of the Western world. 

Patrick Henry’s words— “Give Me Liberty or Give Me 
Death” —will ring down the ages. 

The sword of Lee would have annihilated liberty, and forged 
the chains of human bondage forever. 

When the Revolution threatened, Patrick Henry exclaimed, 
“I am not a Virginian; I am an American!” 

When treason threatened, Robert E. Lee drew his sword and 
said, “I am not an American; I am a Virginian V* 

7 


Patrick Henry lives with the immortals. 

And what of Lee? 

He saw martyrs hurled into the vortex—a million graves. 

He heard plaintive moans—widows, mothers, sisters, and 
fathers—bending beneath the burden of their woe. 

And then his lips were sealed. 

His pen became paralyzed. 

His Cause was cursed of God. 

He lived a hermit life to the end. 

Did death redeem him? 

And why him who denied the Star of Destiny in its course? 

Why him who repudiated the logic of human progress? 

Upon none other could they place a Confederate uniform. 

Gen. Lee serves their purpose best. 

They say, “we have chosen well.” 

From Lakes to Gulf; from the Rockies to the Sea, over¬ 
crowded cemeteries cry aloud, No! 

The blood-bathed, the battle-scarred, the storm-beaten,—once 
the Nation’s pride,—say No! 

Is the spirit of true Patriotism dead? 

The world’s great teacher—Saint Paul—exclaimed, “O grave! 
where is thy victory ?” And this was his reply: 

“The grave is swallowed up in victory.” 

Wreathings of Victory 1 robe Liberty’s dead. 

And what unholy hands would rob the laurel wreaths from 
off the graves of those who redeemed this land from the mad 
furies of rebellion, then sworn and struggling to destroy it ? 

Stern patriotism, sublime heroism, rescued this Republic, 
and bequeathed it into younger hands—hands and hearts that 
must now protect it, or prove false to their great and sacred 
trust. 

And do the custodians of our Nation’s weal no longer recol¬ 
lect that invocation which fell from the lips of him who said: 

“We here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died 
in vain; that this Nation, under God, shall have a new birth of 
Freedom.” 

By what manner of reasoning can that New Birth of Free¬ 
dom, which Abraham Lincoln proclaimed—how can that be 
taught—if Treason’s uniform is to be memorialized with equal 
honor beside the uniform of blue! 

What influence is projecting this nefarious work? 

Are the United Daughters of the Confederacy in com¬ 
mand of these affairs, so vital to the strength and stability of our 
Republic ? 


Are they the power behind the throne bringing into life 
another birth,” not “of Freedom,” but rebellion’s vindication? 
Rebellion vindicated makes treason respectable. 

Treason respectable means patriotism doomed. 

Beware lest the monster leaps again. 

Against the protests of their veteran sires, The Daughters 
of the Confederacy reared a monument and inscribed upon it 
words which breathe defiance against the verdict of eighteen 
sixty-five. 

And now comes a statue of Lee beneath the gilded dome, and 
Jefferson Davis—the Judas Iscariot of the nineteenth century— 
soon to follow. 

They laugh to scorn the words of Abraham Lincoln, delivered 
at Gettysburg. 

Had Gen. Lee succeeded in that battle there would be today 
no Hall of Fame, no Thermopylae of human liberty where unre¬ 
pentant hearts now demand the right to rear, not one alone, but 
two monuments in recognition of treason itself. 

They say that such recognition is necessary for a complete 
reconciliation between the north and south; and certain coddling 
pens are editorially writing Amen to that proposition. 

History’s greatest lessons would be stultified and the spirit 
of true patriotism'destroyed, should that day ever come. 

Exalt Lee amid the bright galaxy that lifted this Nation to 
its zenith, and you will repudiate the truth of that maxim which 
was emphasized in the baptism of poured-out blood. 

‘Treason is the greatest of crimes, and not a mere difference 
of opinion.” 

Should this Republic see fit to close its eyes to the truth of 
that lesson, then there will come a time when the eyes of another 
generation will be opened to look upon scenes which we pray, 
may never crucify civilization again. 

Take warning lest history may repeat itself. 

It should be the pride of every true patriot to teach truth to 
the receptive minds of this great and growing Republic. 

Can that be done by pointing toward Robert E. Lee as a patri¬ 
otic efxample? 

Can we tell our children that this man, who would have 
destroyed every blessing we now enjoy—that he must be regarded 
as a model for patriotic teaching? 

No person of intelligence can answer that question, and tell 

the truth except by saying no. 

And yet Collier’s Weekly, under the influence of a strange 
wedlock, is trying to re-baptize Robert E. Lee—vainly trying to 


elevate him and exalt him at the expense of patriotic virtue and 
patriotic truth. 

We had our Valandinghams in the nineteenth century; we 
have them with us to-day. 

Those men and women of the south who are looking, not 
toward the Stars and Stripes, but toward the Stars and Bars, and 
praying for the redemption of that flag—they are dangerous 
teachers in this benign Republic. 

We understand their motive. 

We are compelled to doubt their good faith. 

We have ample evidence, warranting the belief that their true 
purpose is to elevate those who would destroy this Union, to the 
same high renown as those who died, and of those who struggled 
in its defense. 

Mississippi already demands a pedestal upon which to place a 
statue of Jefferson Davis—Jefferson Davis who, in the words of 
Andrew Jackson, was resolved to “reign and ride on the whirl¬ 
winds, and direct the storm.” 

Lee and Davis! then what? 

Methinks I can. see a million mothers, their eyes aflame, their 
hearts exultant, pointing toward this Temple, which once stood 
as Freedom’s last and only hope, pointing thither and saying to 
their sons, “Behold! there stands the proof of our vindication.” 

Purify Lee in the Hall of Fame, and they will put blood on the 
hands of Abraham Lincoln / 

O, ye ! givers of the. law, congressmen and senators: will 
you allow that sacred shrine where, for four long years, the God¬ 
dess of Liberty knelt and prayed—will you allow it to become the 
memorial abode of treason—the shrine of those who led their 
hosts to destroy it? 

The greatest teacher the world has ever known went into the 
Temple of God, and He spoke these words, “it is written, My 
house shall be called the house of prayer, but ye have made it a 
den of thieves;” and He cast them out. 

From Appomattox to his grave, Gen. Lee lived an exemplary 
life, but was he ever known to raise his voice expressing regret 
for the great wrong he did when he betrayed his country, and her 
flag? 

His associate—Gen. Armistead—lay mortally wounded at 
Gettysburg. 

lie called Mitchell—he of Hancock’s Staff—to his side, and 
said: 

“Tell Gen. Hancock I know I did my Country a great wrong 


when I took up arms against her, for which I am sorry, but for 
which I cannot live to atone.” 

Did Gen. Robert E. Lee ever say as much? % L( 

Did he ever admonish his countrymen that they should be 
loyal to the flag, which he had failed to destroy? No! History 
has never chronicled such admonition. 

A short time before his death, Henry W. Grady implored his 
people to be “not only loyal to the flag, but loving;” and he 
adjured them further in these words: “What we do in honor 
shall deepen, and what we do in dishonor, shall dim the luster of 
its fixed and glistening stars.” 

The Daughters of the Confederacy may ignore the 
dying prayer of Henry Woodfin Grady ; but could they as 
lightly disregard an appeal, had such an appeal fallen from the 
lips of Robert E. Lee ? 

None knew better than did Gen. Lee, that, could he have lived 
on and on, ten times ten thousand years, no atonement could ever 
erase the sorrow, the suffering, the trial and travail of that long 
night of war when he led his hosts to destroy this union—to rob 
humanity, and the world, of the greatest blessings under the 
purest flag and the most benign government in all the mighty tide 
of time. 

Six Hundred Thousand—the remnant of those who saved 
the Union—cry aloud: “Remove that statue of Robert E. Lee 
from Statuary Hall at Washington. 

It has no place within Freedom’s most sacred sanctuary. 

But, in its stead, memorialize, in lasting bronze, him who, of 
all that band of Virginia birth, stood foremost, faithful to the 
flag; him who saw clearly the pathway of righteousness and of 
right; him who knew the truth and abided by it; him upon whose 
brow Fame has gently placed her imperishable crown, and above 
it History has written, in words that will never die, “The Rock 
of Chickamauga.” 

In 1864 , when the war was raging, Statuary Hall was dedi¬ 
cated to Fame, there to immortalize those who were, or would be, 
builders of this Republic. 

Was General Lee a builder. 

Was he not a destroyer? 

Consult the record for your reply. 

Count the graves. 

By what measure of reasoning could he have been in con¬ 
templation in that dark period of our Nation’s life? 

11 


Dying Douglas said, “There can be no neutrals in this war— 
only patriots or traitors.” 

Those words were not from a soul of passion, but from a 
heart bowed down in deepest grief. 

The moment you elevate treason, and place it upon a pedestal, 
just that moment you strike a staggering blow against the body 
of patriotism itself. 

Charity for the misguided, even though they fought for trea¬ 
son, is one thing, but laudation of the bold and conspiring leaders 
is quite another. 

And is there one in this enlightened age who would deny that 
there is now, as there was then, and ever will be, a dividing line 
between patriotism and treason? 

Is there aught of ambiguity in the meaning of those two 
words? 

Let us see! 

“Patriotism—love and devotion for one’s country, the spirit that, origin¬ 
ating in love of country, prompts to obedience to its laws, to the support and 
defense of its existence, rights and institutions, and the promotion of its 
welfare.” 

And how was patriotism exemplified in that great struggle 
which tried men’s souls? 

Lincoln, Grant, Sherman, Sheridan, Thomas, Logan, and their 
compatriots, stood by their country when it was assailed. They 
were obedient to its laws; they defended its existence; they pro¬ 
moted its welfare. 

They gave the best that God had bequeathed to them, to save 
the Union. 

That was Patriotism. 

And what is Treason? 

“ Treason is a betrayal or betraying ; breach of fidelity, or allegiance ; 
treachery ; disloyalty ; an offense which immediately affects the safety of 
the sovereign or state. ’ ’ 

Davis, Lee, and their co-conspirators betrayed their trust; 
they renounced their allegiance to their country, and their 
country’s flag. Their deeds were deeds of treachery, and dis¬ 
loyalty to the Union; their offense “immediately affected the 
safety” of the Republic. 

They struggled with all their power to destroy the Union. 

If that was not treason, then that word has no meaning in the 
English tongue. 

If this Republic is to endure, truth must be taught and stead¬ 
fastly maintained. 


12 


If it ever falls, it will fall because Falsehood is allowed to 
corrupt and destroy the virtue of truth. 

Victor Hugo wrote these immortal words: 

“It is woe to a man to leave behind him a shadow which has 
his form.” 

A shadow, dark, and deep, and deadly, follows the form of 
Davis, of Lee, and of those who drew their swords, and, defying 
the Nation, which they were sworn to defend, defying humanity, 
defying God, they declared that “Slavery, and not Freedom,” 
should be the corner stone of this Republic. 

They offended God! 

They fell! 

Fit subjects now for pedestals! 

Exemplars toward which the eyes of the younger generations 
are invited to turn, there to behold true lessons in patriotism! 

Do I hear a voice asking why the south (I might safely say, 
„The Daughters of the Confederacy)—why do they demand this 
recognition ? 

The reason is so plain that he who runs may read. 

Could Gen. Lee rise up from his grave, sentient in sinew and 
flesh, would he not say, “spare my memory the shame?” 

And Jefferson Davis! What of him? “Let my bones repose 
in peace.” “Place me not under the flag I cursed where patriot¬ 
ism may gaze upon my spectral form.” 

Was it not quite enough when the Daughters of the Confed¬ 
eracy, ' a short time ago, unveiled a monument to memorialize the 
vilest murderer of the western world? 

And what Triumvirate are they now resolved to resurrect 
for the edification of this enlightened age? 

Wirz—the keeper of the “Living Hell!” 

Liberty’s Temple of the house of Lee!—the memorable abode 
of Jefferson Davis! 

These three—Davis—Lee—Wirz—Treason’s Triumvirate! 

Davis gave the order—“Sprinkle blood”—“Grasp the torch”— 
“Northern cities shall feed the flames.” 

The day previous to his inauguaration he said: 

“Grass shall grow in northern streets where now pavements 
are worn smooth by the tread of commerce.” 

Lee betrayed his trust; he tore open the bosom of his own 
fair southland that he might plunge therein the bravest of Ameri¬ 
can manhood—almost a million slain. 

He prolonged the war long after humanity cried aloud, “cease 
the spilling of blood!” 

Wirz butchered his hapless victims; he reveled in their gore; 
he gloated over the grave. 


13 


These three—Treason’s Triumvirate ! 

While life lasted Jefferson Davis sojourned through the 
south with the torch of sectional hate in his hand. Dying, he 
denied that he had a country. 

Just previous to his death he exclaimed, “they may reconstruct 
the men of the south, but the women never.” And for once he 
appears to have prophesied the truth. 

Go to his grave, ye Daughters of the Confederacy, and 
breathe into his ashes a new life—fidelity to the flag—before 
you attempt to resurrect him, and place him upon a pedestal as 
an exemplar for the rising generations to look upon, and to inhale 
the spirit of true patriotism thereby. 

Patriotism, loyalty to the flag, obedience to the laws of the 
land—these are the lessons which must be taught throughout the 
centuries, or this Republic will go down into disintegration and 
decay, as did the republics of old. 

Memorializing Davis in the south is one thing, but, in that 
city which he marked for the flames, where truth triumphed, 
and where patriotic virtue should forever guard the bivouac— 
that is quite another. 

Robert E. Lee, Memorialized in granite and bronze on the 
battlefields where he fought, is an object lesson for the ages; but 
Robert E. Lee Immortalized as an exemplar of National alleg¬ 
iance, and placed where the youth of this republic will be asked to 
look upon him, and revere him as such—that cannot be either 
in this generation, or in any future generation so long as the 
words of Abraham Lincoln live in the souls of men. 

The shaft reared to memorialize The Butcher of Ander- 
sonville stands as an insult to patriotism, and an attempt to 
impeach the integrity of that tribunal which pronounced a mur¬ 
derer’s doom. 

The act of the builders betrayed a reincarnation of the old 
spirit—that spirit which loyalty to the Stars and Stripes may do 
well to observe. 

The power that builded the Wirz monument, has placed the 
statue of Lee in Washington, and the same power is now deter¬ 
mined thus to perpetuate the memory of Jefferson Davis. 

The pen of Genius wrote: 

“Truth crushed to earth shall rise again.” 

If the statue of Lee is allowed to remain in that hall of patri¬ 
otic teaching, then the word ‘ ‘Truth’ ’ in Bryant’s poem might well 
be erased, and “Treason” written in its stead. 

Of that Treason, John Bright—the great English States¬ 
man—exclaimed: 


14 


“It was the most stupendous act of guilt that history has 
recorded in all the annals of mankind/’ 

In one of his early messages Mr. Lincoln said: 

“Great honor is due to the officers who remained true, despite 
the example of their treacherous associates.” 

And a vision of two forms stood before him—Lee—Thomas. 

Could this great man look again through mortal eyes, and 
behold, standing side by side, equally honored, those who proved 
treacherous, with those who remained true—could he see all 
this—his teachings reviled, betrayed—would he not cry aloud in 
his anguish and say: 

“Truth forbids!” 

“Justice to our immortal dead forbids!” 

“The safety of our Republic forbids!” 

“Defile not this temple wherein God’s promise was redeemed.” 

And would he not admonish us to teach the rising generations 
that there is a chasm broad and deep between right and wrong— 
this side Fidelity, that side Treachery—this side Truth, that side 
Treason ? 

Robert E. Lee crossed the chasm; he drew his sword on the 
other side. 

He must remain where he volunteered to go, where history 
has identified him; and from whence there can be no retreat. 

And could that great apostle of Freedom speak again, would 
he not say: “With malice toward none, with charity for all,” if 
it is their right to bring him back—him whom I loved, and would 
have leaned upon—him who deserted me that he might chastise 
me and scourge my land with sorrow and blood and pain—if they 
must return him to these halls, once honored by his tread, but 
which he would have destroyed, then let him be borne hither 
within the embrace of a casket, sorrow-draped, that I may look 
upon him, even as did David when, gazing upon his son, he gave 
way to the resistless eloquence of his woe: 

“And thy dark sin—Oh! I could drink the cup, 

If, from this woe, its bitterness had won thee: 

May God have called thee, like a wanderer, home; 

My lost son Absalom!” 

Comrades of Illinois, may that invocation, so familiar to your 
ears, so earnest of utterance, be handed down from father to son, 
wherever float the Stars and Stripes— “Eternal Vigilance is 
the Price of Liberty.” 


15 


Veterans of the bivouac and the battlefield, our duty is plain. 
We can do no less than to raise our voices protesting against this 
bold attempt to thwart the verdict of everlasting truth, that ver¬ 
dict which you and your dying comrades wrote with the bayonet’s 
point; that verdict which was sealed and cemented and conse¬ 
crated in the baptism of their poured-out blood. 

History has rendered its last decree. 

Heaven and humanity have approved it. 

It is written in every land and every tongue. 

It is garnered, like the ripened grain, into every library 
around the globe. 

No appeal can be maintained. 

The deeds of Robert E. Lee cannot be blotted out. 

He challenged Destiny. 

He defied God. 

He deliberately sealed his own fate. 

Of such Omar Khayyam spoke 

“The moving finger writes, and, having writ, 

Moves on; nor all their piety, nor wit, 

Shall lure it back to cancel half a line; 

Nor all their tears wash out a word of it.” 


At the conclusion of Col. Darling’s address the following 
Preamble and Resolutions were offered by Col. John L- Manning, 
Chairman of Committee on Speakers: 

Whereas, a nation’s life rests on the patriotism and honesty of its 
people. If patriotism and treason are permitted to occupy the same pedestal 
of fame, how will the people judge who is the patriot and who is the traitor? 

Whereas, The veterans of Illinois assembled in this Memorial hall, 
dedicated to patriotism and love of our country, on this birth of a new year, 
have listened with rejuvenated souls to the timely and patriotic and manly ad¬ 
dress of our estimable citizen and comrade, Jasper T. Darling, on a question 
of vital importance to this republic; a question which had better be stamped 
out in its incipience, before it divides our nation into baneful sectionalism, 
based on making traitors patriots; a question with which its insidious 
authors would seem to be testing the forbearance of the people who saved 
this republic from treason and destruction; therefore be it 

Resolved , That we approve of this patriotic and timely address of our 
fellow citizen and comrade, and order the same to be printed in pamphlet 
form and that a copy of the same be mailed to the President, to the members 


16 



of his cabinet, each of the congressmen and United States senators at Wash¬ 
ington, hoping thereby that the acceptance of the statue of Col Robert E. 
Lee may not be sanctioned by the government of the United States. 

Resolved , That this preamble be adopted by this assembly of the G. A. 
R., and the same signed as our representative by our distinguished chairman, 
Gen. Joseph B. Leake, and that he appoint a committee to carry these res¬ 
olutions into force. 

Upon the question of its acceptance being submitted, a call for a rising 
vote was made, and so ordered by the Chairman; whereupon with but a 
single dissenting voice, all Comrades and others present, rose en masse and 
voted in the affirmative. 


In accordance with the foreging Preamble and Resolutions, I have the 
honor to appoint the following named Comrades of the Grand Army of the 
Republic, as a Committee to carry the same into effect: 

(Signed) Joseph B. Leake, Chairman. 

General Philip C. Hayes, Dept. Commander of Ill. G. A. R. 

Colonel John S. Varley, Senior Vice Commander, Department of Illinois. 
General Robert Mann Woods, Past Department Commander of Ill. 

General Joseph Rosenbaum, Past Department Commander of Illinois. 

Colonel Le Grand W. Perce, Past Commander U. S. Grant Post. 

Colonel Charles R. Winn, Past Commander Gen. Wm. E. Strong Post. 

Colonel H. R. Brinkerhoff, (Ret), Past Commander Gen. Phil. Sheridan Post. 
Colonel W. H. H. Peirce, Commander George H. Thomas Post. 

Colonel Thomas H. Gault, Past Commander George H. Thomas Post 
Colonel Charles H. Tebbetts, Past Commander George H. Thomas Post. 
Colonel Edward Watson, Commander U. S. Grant Post. 

Hon. John F. Scanlan, U. S. Grant Post. 

Colonel John L. Manning, Past Commander U. S. Grant Post. 

Colonel Henry Stephens, Past Commander Columbia Post. 

Colonel George Washington Wade, Commander Abraham Lincoln Post. 

Colonel Jesse J. Cook, Past Commander Abraham Lincoln Post. 

Colonel Joseph Gaubatz, Commander General Winfield Scott Post. 

Colonel O. B. Felt, Commander Farragut Post. 

Colonel George C. Abbott, Commander Julius White Post. 

Colonel W. H. Lichty, Past Commander William E. Strong Post. 

Colonel Walter L. Way, Commander General B. F. Butler Post. 

COLONEL J. J. Quinlan, Commander General Philip Sheridan Post. _ 

Colonel William P. Turner, Commander General John A. Logan Post. 

Colonel W. W. Fletcher, Commander Old Glory Post. 


Press of Libby & Sherwood Printing Co., 
314-318 S. Canal St., Chicago. 





